SPM, Andretti, Penske and ECR locked into the Fast Nine

Following the afternoon’s initial runs , Townsend Bell of Andretti Autosport was top, but James Hinchcliffe ended the day fastest for SPM, with an average of 230.946mph, with a strong second run, while Ryan Hunter-Reay came closest to toppling the Canadian.

The 2014 Indy winner's fastest lap was 0.1mph faster than Hinch’s best, but the run was less consistent, while Will Power was fastest Penske and fastest Chevrolet narrowly beating Helio Castroneves’ second attempt. Bell, Josef Newgarden (ECR-Chevy), Carlos Munoz (Andretti-Honda), and Simon Pagenaud (Penske-Chevy) were able to rely on their first run to remain in the Fast Nine, while Hinchcliffe's teammate Mikhail Aleshin made a brave last-minute run to vault his way into contention.

Story of the second (and third) runs

Aleshin was the first driver to go for a second qualifying run, and the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports-Honda driver again came close to kissing the wall, but he held on and got into the top nine. When Ryan Hunter-Reay vaulted into sixth with his second run, that pushed Team Penske-Chevrolet’s Will Power outside the Fast Nine, but the Australian would have to wait his turn to retaliate.

Next in line was Marco Andretti who initially looked set to get beyond the threshold, but his average of 229.501mph wasn’t enough.

At 6:06pm, Conor Daly finally completed his first qualifying run, having had his car adjusted following Dale Coyne Racing teammate Pippa Mann’s crash. The Indiana native set an average of 227.804, 16^th fastest at the time.

JR Hildebrand, 2011 runner-up, did a blazing 230.0 on his opening lap, but by the time he reached lap 4, he was down to 228.0 and was not able to get his Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet back into the Fast Nine. Teammate and team owner Carpenter suffered a similar dropoff, but then Helio Castroneves sprung to the top with four 230mph laps that pretty much guaranteed his place in the Fast Nine.

Graham Rahal went into the fast lane in the pits to withdraw his original qualifying time, after a miserable first run, but it served him little, moving up three spots.

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ James Hinchcliffe then changed the face of the day with an ultra-strong run, consisting of three 231mph laps and a 230.5 on his final lap, resulting in an average of 230.946mph.

Juan Pablo Montoya of Team Penske-Chevrolet made a run that only produced a P10 time, 229.745mph, while Scott Dixon had an even worse run and dropped to 14^th. But the #12 Penske of Will Power set a 231.1 opening lap and followed up with three 230s to go P2 behind Hinchcliffe. That pushed Oriol Servia’s SPM car out of the top nine, but the Catalan's second run dropped him to 25^th.

Daly made a second run to set an average of 227.862mph, and he was swiftly followed out by teammate Gabby Chaves who looked so promising in practice. However, his run was waved off after one lap, to allow Marco Andretti to make his third attempt. Three 230mph laps followed by a 229 left Andretti hanging by his fingernails in P9, pushing his Andretti Autosport teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay out of the Fast Nine.

When RHR nailed a 231 and three 230s to go P2, he pushed yet another teammate, Alex Rossi onto the P9 bubble, which Aleshin promptly burst. The Russian exited pitlane as the gun went off to end the day’s activities, and the Mad Russian nailed an average of 230.209mph to wind up a brave seventh.

Complete qualifying results

P.	N°	Pilote	Équipe	Temps
1	5	James Hinchcliffe	Schmidt (H)	2:35.8803
2	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti (H)	2:35.9755
3	12	Will Power	Penske (C)	2:36.0225
4	3	Helio Castroneves	Penske (C)	2:36.1822
5	29	Townsend Bell	Andretti (H)	2:36.2147
6	21	Josef Newgarden	Carpenter (C)	2:36.3658
7	7	Mikhail Aleshin	Schmidt (H)	2:36.3798
8	26	Carlos Muñoz	Andretti (H)	2:36.4042
9	22	Simon Pagenaud	Penske (C)	2:36.4522
10	98	Alexander Rossi	Andretti-Herta (H)	2:36.4893
11	27	Marco Andretti	Andretti (H)	2:36.4966
12	2	Juan Pablo Montoya	Penske (C)	2:36.6956
13	9	Scott Dixon	Ganassi (C)	2:36.8651
14	20	Ed Carpenter	Carpenter (C)	2:36.9111
15	6	J.R. Hildebrand	Carpenter (C)	2:37.1538
16	14	Takuma Sato	Foyt (H)	2:37.8281
17	18	Conor Daly	Coyne (H)	2:37.9902
18	24	Sage Karam	Dreyer & Reinbold (C)	2:38.0191
19	10	Tony Kanaan	Ganassi (C)	2:38.1171
20	11	Sébastien Bourdais	KVSH (C)	2:38.2819
21	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal (H)	2:38.2853
22	88	Bryan Clauson	Coyne (H)	2:38.5136
23	16	Spencer Pigot	Rahal (H)	2:38.5202
24	77	Oriol Servia	Schmidt (H)	2:38.6649
25	42	Charlie Kimball	Ganassi (C)	2:38.9057
26	61	Matthew Brabham	Murray (C)	2:39.0178
27	25	Stefan Wilson	KVSH (C)	2:39.6031
28	41	Jack Hawksworth	Foyt (H)	2:39.7248
29	35	Alex Tagliani	Foyt (H)	2:40.3515
30	4	Buddy Lazier	Lazier (C)	2:40.4702